Scofield Orphanage, located in rural Kenya, is home to about one hundred orphans. Ben and Emily Okello, the Kenyan founders, instill in each child that they are capable and worthy. They dedicate their lives to this ethical endeavor and invest in the self-sustaining future of each child despite the ongoing difficulties caused by food shortages and the pandemic.
A Self-Sustaining Future
The Borgen Project spoke with Patty Congdon, a longtime volunteer who works alongside Ben and Emily Okello. Concerning the start of Scofield Orphanage, she said “Most of them, the parents have died of HIV, and therefore, they are seen as unclean, and people just leave them to die, and so, he just couldn’t stand it anymore…he said, ‘Emily, can I bring ten children home?’ And she said yes… and that was the start of Scofield.” After starting the orphanage, Ben and Emily realized that they would need to provide an education to the children. By doing so, they invest in each orphan’s self-sustaining future.
A population-based survey conducted in Kenya found that 93.9% of school-aged single orphans had never attended school. Orphans in rural parts of Kenya struggle to complete an education, and many of them never have an opportunity to attend school; without passing the national exam and acquiring a university degree, orphans struggle to acquire a job that lifts them out of poverty. Additionally, without a supportive community, orphans are at risk for exploitation, life-threatening food insecurity, medical complications and a variety of other dangerous circumstances.
Education in Kenya
In Kenya, students must pass eighth-grade national exams to advance into high school education. From there, they must pass twelfth-grade national exams to acquire university education. Patty Congdon shares that over this past decade, every single student at Scofield Orphanage has had a 100% pass rate in the eighth and twelfth-grade national exams. During the pandemic, children in Kenya faced school closures and many lost access to educational resources.
The loss of education especially affected vulnerable children in rural areas. This is attributable to the fact that remote learning is not an option in many isolated locations. Vulnerable children in rural areas are at much higher risk for food insecurity as well as exploitation. This is especially true when they lose access to the resources provided to them by schools. The pandemic heightened the struggle for children located at Scofield Orphanage in Kenya. However, they continue to find ways to provide education, food and shelter to each vulnerable child they house.
Fighting Educational Disparities
Due to the influx of young people pursuing higher education, many universities have increased their standards for grade point averages. Whereas students could previously apply to college with only a C+ average, many universities now require a B average. This heightened expectation has not diminished the opportunities available to the industrious orphans at Scofield.
Patty Congdon said, “Right now, not only are our kids going to university, but they are going to university for engineering, for medical, for computer science. They are going for high-level professional skills, which has just been the other thing that has just been unbelievable because Ben sets such a high standard for them from the minute they can walk on that they are capable. He just instills in them that they are capable, each to their own skills, and that they are to be professionals, and so, they don’t just want to be successful, they want to be successful at an incredibly high level, and it’s just amazing. So, every kid that we have right now who’s in school is going for all these advanced professional degrees on top of it and doing well.”
More than 90% of Kenya’s orphans do not attend school; meanwhile, the orphans housed at Scofield Orphanage have a 100% pass rate on both eighth and twelfth-grade national exams. Furthermore, those that have advanced to university are studying in prestigious fields. This is a meaningful step toward ensuring the self-sustaining future of each child. It also proves that, with proper support and education, the lives of orphans in Kenya can realistically improve.
The Challenges of 2020
Though Scofield Orphanage continues to succeed, it faced significant difficulties during the pandemic and locust invasion of 2020. Kenya’s government shut down all motor vehicle travel. As a result, no vehicles could come in and out of towns and villages. Additionally, Scofield Orphanage’s teachers were sent home; Ben and Emily Okello oversaw approximately one hundred children’s education.
Concerning the food shortages and travel bans, Patty said, “Ben had to go by foot to try to find food in villages that had been decimated by flood, drought and locusts.” She continued, “He had been able, in the past, to go over the border to Tanzania to try to get food. Borders were closed, and as he tried to go wider and wider—he’s doing all of this by foot— someone finally gave him a donkey cart. Can you imagine going forty miles with a donkey cart to look for grain? And then finding it and coming forty miles by foot with a donkey cart with, you know, ninety pounds of grain? It’s a lot, and everything is very expensive. So, everything’s been really difficult. Thankfully, none of the children have come down with COVID.”
Scofield Orphanage endured the food shortages as well as the pandemic, but Patty Congdon continues to advocate for consistency on the part of donors who contribute to Scofield Orphanage. Scofield needs consistent support so that they can afford food, necessities, medical treatment, teachers’ salaries and education.
The Need for Support
When asked, “What are the biggest needs facing Scofield right now?” Patty Congdon said, “Consistency in funding and at levels that are sustainable is still the number one challenge. A big goal that we still have is trying to get them solar power because they still don’t really have lights. They don’t have running water, and from a health perspective, running water would be a game-changer, and being able to have things like computers to study, it all goes back to electricity, and right now they don’t have that.” She continued, “Basics like lights and running water and being able to plug in a computer, those things don’t exist. Those are the big challenges right now.”
Scofield Orphanage faces immense difficulties and is in need of consistent support. Nevertheless, it continues to transform the lives of orphans in rural Kenya by investing in the self-sustaining future of each child. The ethical role model it provides demonstrates how to effectively help vulnerable children.
– Hannah Brock
Photo: Flickr
CIASPE Improves Food Security in Mexico
CIASPE Mexico
CIASPE is working toward food security and sustainability by empowering families and communities through education. CIASPE is located in the central Mexican city of Querétaro, and its food system designs continue to spread through Latin America. Additionally, CIASPE offers training and consultation services that range from the fundamentals of agriculture to the latest innovations in sustainability. CIASPE was founded in 2011 by agronomist and agricultural engineer Gabriela Lucas Deeke. Deeke strives to equate food sovereignty with food security. Furthermore, she works to give communities the tools and know-how to provide for themselves.
Gabriela Lucas Deeke
Deeke has a master’s degree in integrated watershed management from the Autonomous University of Querétaro and another master’s degree in rural tourism from the University of Argentina. In addition, Deeke served 10 years in public service with the Ministry of Agriculture. Furthermore, she took courses in bio-intensive agriculture, which studies how to achieve the biggest crops out of the smallest plots of land.
Deeke’s dream is to give rise to conscious farmers and ensure families can live off what they produce. Additionally, Deeke and CIASPE strive to teach people about the importance of giving back and creating sustainable systems. The organization’s courses reflect this holistic yet practical approach to agriculture.
Agricultural Education
CIASPE offers courses on the fundamentals of farming, advanced practices in sustainability and much more. It opens with basics such as raising poultry, sheep and rabbits. Additionally, it offers a kitchen workshop that focuses on basic nutritional education. The organization preaches respect and care for the land through courses such as agroecology farming, which focuses on making the best use of nature without doing damage to the resource or land. Lastly, it seeks to complete the circle of life with a workshop on composting.
This philosophy runs counter to many of the farming practices deployed today. For example, pesticides and over-farming detract from the nutrients of the crops on an industrial scale. This renders the land useless in the long term. In addition, local impoverished farmers often resort to shortcuts that are ultimately detrimental to their yield and their health. CIASPE looks to combat these harmful practices from the ground up through its educational offerings and focus on the family unit.
Food Sovereignty
CIASPE’s team believes that food security in Querétaro, Mexico, Latin America and beyond can be achieved family by family, community by community. The organization collaborates with other NGOs, schools and entrepreneurs to plant community gardens. Additionally, it employs women who work in handicrafts to help facilitate the sales of surplus produce. CIASPE’s family projects provide a blueprint on how families can live sustainably.
CIASPE works extremely hard to equip communities with everything that they need to be self-sufficient today, tomorrow and in all years to come.
– Greg Fortier
Photo: Flickr
Renewable Energy in Poland
Over 1.3 million Polish households struggle to pay for electricity, hot water and heating. Energy poverty, broadly defined as the inability to secure basic energy needs, forces people to choose between risking adverse health effects from poor living conditions and reducing their consumption of basic goods, such as food and drink. Spurred by the E.U.’s ambitious plan to reduce carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 (from 1990 levels), Poland’s green transition will alleviate energy poverty within its borders. At first, the transition away from fossil fuels may increase energy costs and leave Poland’s 80,000 coal workers unemployed. Over time, however, renewable energy will lead to cheaper and cleaner energy and create more jobs than it makes obsolete. Investment in and support of renewable energy in Poland brings not only commercial benefits but also healthier and more affordable living conditions.
Energy Poverty in Poland
Energy poverty has been decreasing in Poland over the last decade and a half, but the COVID-19 pandemic risks temporarily reversing this trend. From 2007 to 2017, the percentage of people who were unable to adequately heat their living space decreased from 22.7% to 6%. From 2014 to 2017, the percentage of people falling behind on utility bill payments dropped from 14.4% to 8.5%. These figures are promising.
However, increases in Polish incomes, rather than updated energy infrastructures alone, also drove these trends. The “Family 500 plus” program, for example, has helped many Poles meet energy costs. The Law and Justice party established it in 2016 to provide 500PLN per child in monthly childcare benefits for all multi-child households and poorer single-child households. Energy sourcing patterns prevent a less rosy outlook: from 2013 to 2016, the share of electricity produced through renewable energy in Poland actually decreased, and coal still generates over 75% of Polish electricity.
Against this backdrop, COVID-19 and the government’s lockdown response have and will continue to strain people’s energy budgets: increasing the time people spend in a home in need of heating and decreasing people’s incomes by stalling the economy.
Policies and Programs in Poland
Poland has enacted a number of policies and programs in response to its over-reliance on coal. Through the Clean Air program, launched in 2018, Poland plans to invest $30 billion in clean heating. Many Poles still heat their homes through coal-fired furnaces, which emit harmful gasses into the air. Polish households use up 12 million tonnes of coal annually, around two-thirds of the E.U.’s total consumption. Every year, as many as 48,000 deaths in Poland result from poor air quality. By the end of 2020, the program had only removed about 70,000 of Poland’s three million coal-fired heating systems, but its investment efforts will continue until at least 2029.
There have also been social initiatives that have addressed the burden of polluting heating systems. The “FINE Power Engineering – Civic energy” initiative, for example, sets up social energy cooperatives that enable rural regions to become more energy independent. Launched by the Schneider Electric Foundation and Ashoka, an organization promoting social entrepreneurship, this program provides services such as helping communities set up solar panels for local energy production.
Renewable Energy in Poland
Although Poland still contains 36 of the 50 most polluted cities in Europe, recent foreign investment in renewable energy in Poland suggests a bright future for its green transition. The U.S., France and South Korea are in talks with Poland about investing in nuclear energy, one of the cleanest forms of power. A Danish company, Orsted, is jointly developing two offshore wind farms with PGE, Poland’s biggest power group. Internal politics have sometimes and may continue to complicate Poland’s shift away from coal. However, in the long term, Poland’s changing energy landscape, facilitated by domestic and foreign policies and investment, will lift many Poles out of energy poverty and raise their economic and health-related standards of living.
– Alexander Vanezis
Photo: Wikipedia Commons
Migrant Children Seeking Asylum in the US
Causes and Temporary Solutions
The increase in migrant children can be linked to a combination of several factors. Firstly, natural causes. The coronavirus pandemic, coupled with devastating hurricanes in Central America, has compounded pre-existing conditions such as violence and poverty. Secondly, the reversal of Trump-era policies has restored hope to migrants who were previously denied entrance into the U.S.
To respond to the increase in asylum seekers, President Biden has restored border facilities to full capacity. Biden has also restarted programs allowing migrants to apply for asylum from their home countries rather than having to make the perilous journey to the border.
Perhaps most debated is Biden’s decision to reopen the Carrizo Springs influx facility in Texas for children aged 13 to 17. The facility has drawn comparisons to a McAllen, Texas, processing center used by both the Obama and Trump administrations where children were enclosed in chainlink fences and forced to sleep on the ground. Child welfare advocates are concerned about Biden’s decision because the Carrizo Springs facility is not licensed to house children. However, they generally agree that the facility is an improvement over the McAllen housing used during the Trump presidency.
Political Tightrope
While Biden’s reversal of the restrictive immigration policies created by Trump will increase the number of refugees granted legal entrance into the United States, a bigger question remains on how to improve conditions in migrant countries of origin in the face of COVID-19, extreme weather, climate change and violence. Addressing these conditions will eliminate the need for migration entirely, resolving many of the issues associated with migration to the U.S.
The process of softening the restrictions put in place by the previous two administrations is a lengthy and complicated one. Biden faces pressure to open the border from the left and pressure to close it from the right. Through the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, Biden has put forth a $4 billion four-year plan to improve living conditions in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, the home countries of many of the migrants who have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum. These improvements will alleviate migration to the U.S.
The Road Ahead
Biden is walking a political tightrope by working to address root causes while simultaneously continuing Obama and Trump-era border practices. He also faces the tangible challenge of lacking the capacity to process the sheer numbers of migrant children arriving daily. Whether or not Biden can deliver on the promises he made in his campaign remains to be seen but it is certain that the U.S. is understandably trying to adopt an approach that safeguards both the well-being of migrants as well as that of the United States.
– Kieran Hadley
Photo: Flickr
Combating Period Poverty in Iran
Menstruation is a normal, healthy part of life. However, for women and girls worldwide, having a period can be a barrier to attaining true gender equality. Period poverty in Iran is the result of many factors including misconception, lack of training and education, stigma and traditional, conservative religious beliefs. With “millions of women and girls [continuing] to be denied their rights to water, sanitation, hygiene, health, education, dignity and gender equity,” some are directing attention and resources to the menstrual equality movement.
Misconception and Restriction
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, taboos, misconceptions and social and cultural restrictions shadow menstruation for many women. A study among school girls in West Iran found that “41.2% of girls understood that menstruation is a normal physiological process in women,” leaving the majority of pubescent girls in this study to form inaccurate perceptions about this normal bodily function. In a similar study, 48% of Iranian girls stated they believed that menstruation was a disease. The feelings of confusion, panic and fear that accompany such beliefs can inhibit girls from experiencing true dignity and comfort in their bodies.
Cultural, religious and traditional beliefs have a significant impact on norms and attitudes. Islamic rules dictate various prohibitions for menstruating women. During menstruation, women cannot bathe, pray, enter a mosque, fast during Ramadan, touch the Quran or have sexual intercourse. Certainly, the level of restriction varies amongst communities and families, however, much of these restrictions predominate.
A study that occurred in secondary schools in the city of Tabriz, the most populous city in northwestern Iran, indicated that the majority of female students were able to access menstrual hygiene products. Specifically, out of the 1,000 students included in the study, two-thirds reported a favorable economic status and 95.6% reported using disposable pads during menstruation. Though these rates are encouraging, Iran’s poverty rates remain very high. After the last census in 2016, an Iranian economist estimated that 30 million Iranians were living in relative poverty and 12 million in absolute poverty. High poverty rates correlate to less access to water, sanitation and hygiene resources, including menstrual pads.
The Impact of Education
While organizations and governments can best tackle the complex issue of combating period poverty in Iran through collaboration across disciplines of education, urban planning, water and sanitation, a study out of Iran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services states that “health education is among the fundamental and successful approaches to health promotion.” It is promising, then, that in early 2019, a group of officials from the Iranian Ministry of Science and Health as well as the Vice President for the Women’s and Family Affairs, collaborated to create a document aimed at promoting sexual health awareness and education. The document provides guidance to empower teachers and parents, implement education packages and establish policies and interventions to promote indirect sexual education through media. This document is the first of its kind and marks a critical undertaking of improving adolescents’ sexual health education in Iran.
Training and education have a considerable influence and can help mitigate period poverty in Iran. One study found that the use of sanitary pads, as well as bathing and washing after urination or defecation during menstruation, were practices significantly elevated in groups of young girls that received training. The stakes of proper training are beyond fostering hygienic practices; education has a direct impact on health outcomes. Young girls who are first learning about menses are a particularly vulnerable group. Lacking information about menstruation can lead to anxiety and lowered self-esteem but also reproductive tract infections and pelvic inflammatory diseases. The International Journal of Pediatrics found that “young girls with better knowledge and practice toward menstrual hygiene are less vulnerable to adverse health outcomes.”
The Importance of Mothers
Iran can best take on the task of providing reproductive education to its youth by utilizing a critically helpful source: mothers. Countless studies state that the most efficient, culturally and religiously sensitive strategy to convey information to girls about menstruation involves families, mothers in particular.
A study by the International Journal of Preventive Medicine compared different training sources for adolescents’ menstrual health education. Its findings indicate that partnering parents and school trainers as equal stakeholders “leads to more successful results in health implementation.” Another study based out of Iran suggests that education to mothers could be even more effective than directly training adolescent girls themselves. With 61% of Iranian girls reporting that their mothers are the best source of information about menstrual hygiene, it is critical that mothers receive sufficient education so they can share accurate information with their daughters. It is urgent, ethical and resourceful to prioritize education and training for menstrual health management.
Organizations Addressing Women’s Health
While there are over 2,700 NGOs working in Iran on women and family affairs, including Relief International and Center for Human Rights in Iran, the work of Imam Ali’s Popular Student Relief Society, IAPSRS, has been substantial in the area of reducing period poverty in Iran. This prominent group includes 12,000 volunteer university students and graduates. It aims to promote social and economic justice by supporting marginalized children and women in the most problematic, marginalized neighborhoods in Iran. The organization has provided workshops about personal hygiene, birth control, maturity and sexually transmitted disease prevention, as well as deployed volunteer gynecologists for biannual disease screenings.
The work of this group is currently in jeopardy, however. In early March 2021, a court verdict dissolved the NGO, stating that it “deviated from [its] original mission and insulted religious beliefs.” The Human Rights Watch has already called on the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to reverse this action and reinstate the organization.
The Period Equity Movement
The last decade has illuminated the need for a growing focus and global movement on menstrual health management. Significant developments have occurred to address the barriers facing girls and women all over the world, but the need for major overhauls in programming and policy agenda persists.
– Brittany Granquist
Photo: Flickr
Examining USAID Programs in Ukraine
Seven years after the onset of the conflict in Crimea, President Joe Biden reaffirmed the United States’ support of Ukraine in the country’s ongoing struggle with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula. President Biden’s statement in support of those in the country working, “towards a peaceful, democratic and prosperous future,” comes as USAID programs in Ukraine continue to help deal with the aftermath of the conflict while also assisting with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and other healthcare issues.
USAID Relief During the Crimean Conflict
The Russian occupation of Crimea and the ensuing discord in the region have resulted in over 3,000 civilian deaths and led to 1.5 million people becoming internationally displaced persons. As a result of the continuing effects of the hostilities in Eastern Ukraine, USAID has partnered with the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union to assist in helping victims of the conflict with legal matters.
In January 2021 alone, the partnership addressed 393 appeals for legal assistance. This followed a year in which the partnership addressed over 300 appeals for legal assistance each month on subjects ranging from illegal detentions and torture, reimbursement of damages and legislation related to social protection.
Similarly, USAID has also continued to support the U.N.’s efforts to help the populace in Eastern Ukraine. Since 2014, USAID programs in Ukraine have provided more than $88 million in aid towards providing food, shelter, protection and other forms of relief to affected people in the region.
USAID Healthcare Support in Ukraine
In 2021, USAID began participating in the U.N.’s 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine by supporting eight non-governmental organizations in their efforts to protect vulnerable populations in the area including the elderly, children and people in remote communities. The U.N. plan aims to provide aid to 1.9 million of the most vulnerable people in Eastern Ukraine in order to help improve their living conditions and assist in key areas like healthcare and sanitation during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. USAID supports multiple areas of the plan including cash assistance and pandemic response programs.
One such program that has received support is WASH, an initiative to provide sanitation awareness, education and access to vulnerable communities including children and families. The U.S. government gave $6.9 million to WASH in 2020 to help the program achieve those goals through tactics like the distribution of hygiene commodities and the installation of public handwashing stations.
Pandemic Relief
USAID’s pandemic relief extends beyond U.N.-related initiatives as well. Thus far, the United States has given $29 million worth of aid to Ukraine to help combat the spread of COVID-19. That aid has helped provide key medical equipment and supplies to the country. For example, the U.S. embassy in Ukraine announced in February 2021 that USAID provided $1 million worth of oxygen stations to 15 different Ukrainian hospitals in order to treat severe COVID-19 cases.
Additionally, USAID programs in Ukraine have targeted healthcare issues in the country beyond the pandemic. This includes initiatives such as USAID’s new partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities to support family healthcare in the country through efforts like a national education program to improve Ukraine’s medical systems. This joint effort marked the first partnership between USAID and Ronald McDonald House Charities, a nonprofit that currently operates in five public hospitals in Ukraine.
Through programs and initiatives like these, USAID continues to work towards its goal of helping facilitate a secure, healthy and self-reliant country for the Ukrainian people in the midst of the ongoing Crimean conflict.
– Brett Grega
Photo: Flickr
Healthcare in Barbados: Combating COVID-19
Healthcare aids in the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of an illness. Healthcare has greatly improved through research and newly discovered science and medicine. Although, the outbreak of COVID-19 has hurt many populations around the world. As a result, healthcare was forced to adapt radically and rapidly. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost every country experienced a disruption to its health services. Low and middle-income countries reported the greatest difficulties. However, Barbados’s response to the COVID-19 crisis has proven to be more successful than other nations.
Barbados
Healthcare in Barbados is of high standard and easily accessible to everyone. The Queen Elizabeth hospital has about 600 beds and offers care in areas such as radiology and obstetrics. Furthermore, there are eight government Polyclinics that provide free medical treatment for minor ailments, five Geriatric hospitals for elderly care and a network of Child Care facilities. With a population of about 287,375 people, the country has seen around 365 COVID-19 cases and seven deaths.
Combatting the Virus
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) planned to strengthen laboratory capacity for early detection of COVID-19. Barbados ‘Bet-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory’ became one of the first in the Caribbean to acquire test kits and reagents for COVID-19 detection. Additionally, Barbados received concurrent training of laboratory personnel in the new testing protocol.
According to Barbados Today, COVID-19 patients were receiving an experimental drug called Remdesivir and were recovering quickly in April. The doctor leading the trial said, “the patients taking part in a clinical trial of the drug have all had severe respiratory symptoms and fever but were able to leave the hospital after less than a week of treatment.”
Barbados’s government established a COVID Rapid Response Unit and a COVID Engagement Unit to monitor quarantine sites and crack down on violation of COVID-19 protocols. A Cuban medical team in Barbados won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for its outstanding work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in December. David Comissiong, the Ambassador of Barbados to CARICOM (Caribbean Community) nominated the nation. Additionally, medical teams have gone to up to 38 countries and 12 Caribbean countries.
Adjusting for Visitors
Barbados is a popular tourist hotspot and it still wishes to accommodate visitors. The government created the Welcome Stamp, a new visa for remote workers. This visa allows visitors to stay for up to 12 months and work remotely. According to the Insider, Barbados’s new incentive allows people to relocate to a popular destination and still continue to work from home. Barbados had 1,693 Welcome Stamp applications by the end of October. Travel guidelines have been implemented to prevent the spread of the virus. Thus, airports require health screening procedures and quarantine procedures.
Barbados is a thriving country that successfully utilizes its accessibility to healthcare. Healthcare in Barbados is vital. The country is not selfish or prejudice with its medical management. Furthermore, it lives by an egalitarian system regarding health protection. Barbados has used its resources to aid other countries and provide solutions and trials to carriers of the virus. The country and its medical teams will continue to take the proper precautions to protect its inhabitants and those in other countries.
– Thomas Williams
Photo: Flickr
The Need for a New Approach to HIV/AIDS in Iran
Iran discovered its first case of HIV/AIDS in 1987. Now, over 30 years later, UNAIDS estimates that more than 59,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Iran. While Iran has had success managing its HIV/AIDS epidemic in the past, shifting conditions surrounding the spread of the disease has made prior prevention plans obsolete. Iranian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are taking a new approach to help tackle the present crisis.
HIV/AIDS in Iran
Avert is an organization working in HIV/AIDS education. According to its reports, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the area where Iran is located, has the fewest HIV/AIDS infections in the world. However, a concerning aspect of the region’s HIV/AIDS epidemic is that so few people are aware of their infected status. Of the estimated 59,000 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Iran, UNAIDS estimates that only 22,000, or 37%, know that they are carrying the disease. By comparison, only about 15% of PLHIV in the United States are unaware of their status.
This lack of awareness amongst Iranian PLHIV is concerning both in its implications for the quality of life of those individuals, but also in its potential to increase the spread of the virus. This is part of the reason why Iran continues to see the steady spread of HIV/AIDS. According to UNAIDS, while new infections are down from a spike in 2004, Iran saw more than 4,000 new infections in 2019. The AP reports that this increase could be due to the rising prevalence of sexually transmitted cases of HIV/AIDS in Iran, where infection by contaminated drug injection has traditionally fueled the country’s crisis.
Knowledge and Perceptions of HIV/AIDS in Iran
The unknown status of many Iranian PLHIV results from larger issues surrounding Iran’s attitude towards the virus. Specifically, a lack of education regarding HIV/AIDS and prevailing cultural stigma towards PLHIV impacts how Iranians treat the virus and those living with it.
A 2013 survey showed that public education about HIV/AIDS in Iran is limited. The survey included 4,950 participants, each of whom had to fill out a questionnaire regarding their understanding of and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS.
The results of this survey showed that more than 80% of participants were aware that HIV/AIDS could spread through sexual contact or the sharing of a needle with a person with HIV/AIDS. In addition, 70% of participants knew that the use of a condom decreases the likelihood of contracting the virus during sex. However, despite this understanding, only 21.8% of respondents consistently used a condom during sex. This is particularly concerning given the rising role of sexual transmission in the spread of the disease in Iran.
The survey also revealed high stigmatization of PLHIV by respondents. Among respondents, 43% believed that HIV was a “fair punishment,” for “sins of the past,” and 48.6% said that they would stop interacting with somebody who contracted HIV.
Stigma towards PLHIV in Iran results from numerous factors. Misunderstandings about the spread of HIV/AIDS are part of the equation. Due to cultural norms, the association of HIV/AIDS with drug use, homosexuality and premarital sex have led to the widespread nonacceptance of PLHIV, a sentiment echoed in the aforementioned survey.
A New Approach to HIV/AIDS in Iran
Fortunately, NGOs in Iran exist that are advancing a more compassionate and effective approach to HIV/AIDS. The Tehran Positive Club is one such organization. The club devotes itself to assisting Iranian PLHIV, educating the public about HIV/AIDS and reducing the stigma against PLHIV. It provides services to PLHIV including counseling, group therapy, material support and vocational training.
Based out of Iran’s capital, the Tehran Positive Club has thousands of members and multiple branches throughout the country, including in populous cities like Isfahan, Kermanshah and Qom.
By providing material support, the Tehran Positive Club hopes to alleviate the social and psychological trauma that societal stigmatization causes PLHIV. And by increasing public understanding about the disease, it seeks to eliminate the prevailing cultural stigmata that result from misinformation. Reducing stigmatization creates empathy for PLHIV and raises the likelihood that more Iranians will receive testing for the disease, thereby reducing its spread and increasing the chances of survival for the unwittingly infected.
In 2016, the Tehran Positive Club received the Red Ribbon Award from UNAIDS for its work with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Iran. Though the organization already has powerful allies at home and abroad, including the Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS and the United Nations Development Program, increased foreign aid would undoubtedly help further its mission and turn the tide of Iran’s HIV/AIDS epidemic.
– Joseph Cavanagh
Photo: Creative Commons
Human Trafficking in Lesotho
The most recent Trafficking in Persons Report, which the Department of State of the United States issued in 2020, asserts that the government of Lesotho does not meet the minimum requirements for the elimination of human trafficking and is not acting significantly enough to reach them. Aided by the severe lack of financial resources in the African nation, crime and violence can proliferate at a significant pace.
Overview of Lesotho’s Economy
The latest estimates by The World Bank place Lesotho among the poorest countries in the world with a nominal per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $1,299. Meanwhile, expectations have determined that real GDP growth will average 0.6% between 2019 and 2021 down from the average 1.6% that the country experienced between 2015 and 2019.
Over the last few years, a myriad of factors has contributed to the slow growth of the economy. The overall sluggish global economic growth, especially in emerging markets, the grave instability within the political sphere, the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic woes of South Africa, a country which encircles Lesotho land-wise while being its major trade partner, are the main culprits for the current predicament.
Unemployment remains high at 22.83% in 2020 but the country has made improvements in recent times. Namely, the national poverty rate decreased from 56.6% in 2002 to 49.7% in 2017, led by a 13% reduction in urban poverty. Meanwhile, the extreme poverty rate decreased from 34.1% to 24.1% over the same period.
Overview and Root Causes of Human Trafficking in Lesotho
Despite the lack of consistently reliable data, recent studies show that Lesotho is principally a country of origin where traffickers target women and children to traffick them both internally (from rural areas to urban areas) and externally. Due to the particular geography of the region, most victims end up in the bordering nation of South Africa.
The economic conditions that the last section described greatly influence the occurrence of this type of crime. Impoverished communities, high unemployment, low levels of education and pronounced gender imbalances overlap with an ever thriving demand for cheap labor, thus generating an optimal environment for the spread of human trafficking in Lesotho.
Lesotho offers particular allure to traffickers due to the monetary rewards that human trafficking offers along with Lesotho’s particularly lenient penal prosecutions. In the case of sex trafficking, Lesotho punishes with fines instead of imprisonment. Occasionally, victims themselves voluntarily cross the border on false hopes of employment and ameliorated living conditions only to fall prey to violence and abuse.
Government’s Response
The U.S. Department of State classifies countries within four tiers in its Trafficking in Persons Report. The Tier rating does not reflect simply the size of the problem of human trafficking in particular places but also the effectiveness of governments’ responses to it. The latest Report downgraded Lesotho to Tier 3, the worst possible classification. This means that the U.S. Department of State did not witness sufficient efforts from Lesotho’s government to mitigate the level of human trafficking during the previous year. The report urged Lesotho’s officials to further investigate, prosecute and convict traffickers through fair trials, adequately invest in shelters and protective services for victims and fund its Child and Gender Protection Unit (CGPU), which is responsible for handling trafficking cases within Lesotho law enforcement.
However, the report noted that some were taking steps to address human trafficking in Lesotho. The government partnered with an international organization and an NGO to conduct awareness-raising activities, it continued to participate in a regional data collecting tool and trained 27 diplomats on trafficking in persons. The state is also backing several projects with the aim of boosting economic growth, such as the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP II) and the improvement of service roads, therefore aiming to solve the root causes behind criminal activity.
– José Miguel Neves
Photo: Flickr
Scofield Orphanage: Investing in Children’s Futures
Scofield Orphanage, located in rural Kenya, is home to about one hundred orphans. Ben and Emily Okello, the Kenyan founders, instill in each child that they are capable and worthy. They dedicate their lives to this ethical endeavor and invest in the self-sustaining future of each child despite the ongoing difficulties caused by food shortages and the pandemic.
A Self-Sustaining Future
The Borgen Project spoke with Patty Congdon, a longtime volunteer who works alongside Ben and Emily Okello. Concerning the start of Scofield Orphanage, she said “Most of them, the parents have died of HIV, and therefore, they are seen as unclean, and people just leave them to die, and so, he just couldn’t stand it anymore…he said, ‘Emily, can I bring ten children home?’ And she said yes… and that was the start of Scofield.” After starting the orphanage, Ben and Emily realized that they would need to provide an education to the children. By doing so, they invest in each orphan’s self-sustaining future.
A population-based survey conducted in Kenya found that 93.9% of school-aged single orphans had never attended school. Orphans in rural parts of Kenya struggle to complete an education, and many of them never have an opportunity to attend school; without passing the national exam and acquiring a university degree, orphans struggle to acquire a job that lifts them out of poverty. Additionally, without a supportive community, orphans are at risk for exploitation, life-threatening food insecurity, medical complications and a variety of other dangerous circumstances.
Education in Kenya
In Kenya, students must pass eighth-grade national exams to advance into high school education. From there, they must pass twelfth-grade national exams to acquire university education. Patty Congdon shares that over this past decade, every single student at Scofield Orphanage has had a 100% pass rate in the eighth and twelfth-grade national exams. During the pandemic, children in Kenya faced school closures and many lost access to educational resources.
The loss of education especially affected vulnerable children in rural areas. This is attributable to the fact that remote learning is not an option in many isolated locations. Vulnerable children in rural areas are at much higher risk for food insecurity as well as exploitation. This is especially true when they lose access to the resources provided to them by schools. The pandemic heightened the struggle for children located at Scofield Orphanage in Kenya. However, they continue to find ways to provide education, food and shelter to each vulnerable child they house.
Fighting Educational Disparities
Due to the influx of young people pursuing higher education, many universities have increased their standards for grade point averages. Whereas students could previously apply to college with only a C+ average, many universities now require a B average. This heightened expectation has not diminished the opportunities available to the industrious orphans at Scofield.
Patty Congdon said, “Right now, not only are our kids going to university, but they are going to university for engineering, for medical, for computer science. They are going for high-level professional skills, which has just been the other thing that has just been unbelievable because Ben sets such a high standard for them from the minute they can walk on that they are capable. He just instills in them that they are capable, each to their own skills, and that they are to be professionals, and so, they don’t just want to be successful, they want to be successful at an incredibly high level, and it’s just amazing. So, every kid that we have right now who’s in school is going for all these advanced professional degrees on top of it and doing well.”
More than 90% of Kenya’s orphans do not attend school; meanwhile, the orphans housed at Scofield Orphanage have a 100% pass rate on both eighth and twelfth-grade national exams. Furthermore, those that have advanced to university are studying in prestigious fields. This is a meaningful step toward ensuring the self-sustaining future of each child. It also proves that, with proper support and education, the lives of orphans in Kenya can realistically improve.
The Challenges of 2020
Though Scofield Orphanage continues to succeed, it faced significant difficulties during the pandemic and locust invasion of 2020. Kenya’s government shut down all motor vehicle travel. As a result, no vehicles could come in and out of towns and villages. Additionally, Scofield Orphanage’s teachers were sent home; Ben and Emily Okello oversaw approximately one hundred children’s education.
Concerning the food shortages and travel bans, Patty said, “Ben had to go by foot to try to find food in villages that had been decimated by flood, drought and locusts.” She continued, “He had been able, in the past, to go over the border to Tanzania to try to get food. Borders were closed, and as he tried to go wider and wider—he’s doing all of this by foot— someone finally gave him a donkey cart. Can you imagine going forty miles with a donkey cart to look for grain? And then finding it and coming forty miles by foot with a donkey cart with, you know, ninety pounds of grain? It’s a lot, and everything is very expensive. So, everything’s been really difficult. Thankfully, none of the children have come down with COVID.”
Scofield Orphanage endured the food shortages as well as the pandemic, but Patty Congdon continues to advocate for consistency on the part of donors who contribute to Scofield Orphanage. Scofield needs consistent support so that they can afford food, necessities, medical treatment, teachers’ salaries and education.
The Need for Support
When asked, “What are the biggest needs facing Scofield right now?” Patty Congdon said, “Consistency in funding and at levels that are sustainable is still the number one challenge. A big goal that we still have is trying to get them solar power because they still don’t really have lights. They don’t have running water, and from a health perspective, running water would be a game-changer, and being able to have things like computers to study, it all goes back to electricity, and right now they don’t have that.” She continued, “Basics like lights and running water and being able to plug in a computer, those things don’t exist. Those are the big challenges right now.”
Scofield Orphanage faces immense difficulties and is in need of consistent support. Nevertheless, it continues to transform the lives of orphans in rural Kenya by investing in the self-sustaining future of each child. The ethical role model it provides demonstrates how to effectively help vulnerable children.
– Hannah Brock
Photo: Flickr
Mental Health Emergency Care Services for Women
Mental health emergency care services are a necessity for women across the globe. One in three women experiences a physical or sexual violation in their lifetime. The mental health implications of sexual and physical abuse against women are staggering. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N., “Women who experience physical or sexual abuse are twice as likely to have an abortion.” It claims “the experience nearly doubles their likelihood of falling into depression,” as well as “[makes] them more likely to acquire HIV” and “have alcohol disorders.” Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 is to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” Through this Sustainable Development Goal, the United Nations seeks to end gender-based violence.
In the meantime, many women suffer under the impact of the violence they have already endured. However, there are mental health agencies, emergency care centers and programs that help women after they suffer physical trauma. Here is some information about mental health emergency care services for women.
Samburu Girls Foundation
Doctor Josephine started the Samburu Girls Foundation after rescuing her cousin from a forced marriage and subsequently saving 20 other children. Samburu now rescues at-risk girls in four different counties in Kenya: Samburu, Marsabit, Isiolo and Laikipia. Samburu Girls Foundation helps girls escape child marriage, beading and female genital mutilation (FGM). Pro-bono counselors work to provide safe living conditions and psychological help to young girls who have suffered from sexual and physical abuse. The foundation also seeks to equip the children with a valid education. This occurs through the Schools End FGM program. This program educates communities on the harm that practices such as female genital mutilation induce. Over 1,183 girls have received help from this organization.
Forgotten Women Sexual Trauma Clinic
The organization, Forgotten Women, has a sexual trauma clinic that serves over 105,000 women per year. Its clinic primarily reaches Rohingya women who experienced sexual assault. Many of these women suffer from internal tearing and infections, thousands of whom have become pregnant. Since 2017, over 900,000 people have escaped from Myanmar to Bangladesh refugee camps. Unfortunately, a change in environment has not resolved the trauma that lingers with thousands of the brutalized women. Forgotten Women’s clinic offers several mental health services, such as one-to-one trauma therapy and group counseling sessions. These are necessary services that invest in the healing and well-being of women who have endured sexual, physical abuse and trauma.
The Spotlight Initiative
The Spotlight Initiative is a collaborative effort between the United Nations and European Union. It focuses on eradicating violence against women and girls, specifically in the following areas: Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific and Latin America. In Southeast Asia, The Spotlight Initiative provides counseling support via telephone to women in need. According to the initiative, “Since [April 2020], the hotline has received seven times the number of calls it did during the same period in 2019.” The counselors accept calls from women who are suffering from violence. They are responsible for collaborating with local authorities, and referring women to counselors when necessary and supplying legal support.
The pandemic has also worsened violent conditions for women in Mexico. The violence against women and girls (VAWG) caused a spike in phone calls to an additional 53% at the start of 2020. Through the aid of the Spotlight Initiative, alongside the support of the government and private sector, Grupo Posadas hotels now provide seven costless nights to women and children in need of protective services. After their stay, they receive direction to justice centers and other helpful resources.
Collaboration
Working alongside the United Nations on the Sustainable Development Goals is a powerful way to end violence against women and girls. Violence has increased due to the conditions that the pandemic brought on. The services provided by organizations operating under The Spotlight Initiative, such as Forgotten Woman’s Sexual Trauma Clinic and Samburu Girls Foundation, are vital resources. They provide meaningful, mental health support emergency care services to women and girls that have already experienced violence and need help.
– Hannah Brock
Photo: Flickr